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Yevism
Yevism is a religion in Raidenoff. It focuses on asceticism and achieving purity in life, with the goal of transcending a physical form after death. The name is derived from yev, a Rjynnish word for "goodness" that is used in Yevist contexts to mean 'purity.' Yevism is not a vastly popular religion; it currently exists as a minority religion in the Saltsmoke Desert nations, but was more prominent before the arrival of Heplianism in Pierroge and Rhen. Tenets : "Just as we suffer the heat of daylight in order to enjoy the cool of the night, we suffer the pains of life in order to enjoy the happiness of the Dotazci." –Zbigniew Vnacau Yevism was established in the ninth century BT by Zbigniew Vnacau, a Rjynnish nomad chieftain. Little is known of Vnacau's life before he began preaching, but at some point he became active and began espousing an austere lifestyle. This was the way that most Saltsmoke nomads of the period lived already, but Vnacau heightened the abstention and codified it into a theology. Yevism holds that humans originate as a soul, or desz, that is given a corporeal form as a form of divine testing of one's yev. To maximize purity, a human is meant to live with minimal possessions, periodic self-flagellation, and frequent fasting— Vnacau called for fasting on "one day of every eight" for the Yevist laity. Yevist monks take this behavior to its ultimate form, abstaining also from marriage and building a family. If a Yevist attains a proper level of yev in life, he will, after death, shed his corporeal form and become a pure desz living in a realm called the Dotazci. The Dotazci is a celestial realm populated wholly by deszi; traditional Yevist theology holds the Dotazci to be visible in the night sky, with the stars as representing deszi visible from the world's surface. History Yevism spread through the Saltsmoke Desert fairly rapidly; the concept of an afterlife free from the struggles of desert living resonated with many nomads. For the first few centuries, it was largely confined to nomadic peoples; the first known settled Yevist community was the city of Krasbar, in modern Rhen, which adopted Yevism in the late sixth century BT. Krasbar built a monastery for the Yevist monks of the region, and it soon became a centerpiece of the community; after the foundation of the Krasbar monastery, similar monastic communities began springing up throughout the Saltsmoke Desert. Yevism reached its greatest extent in the second century BT; the later third century had seen conflict among Gredenic communities, and so many people in Pierroge— which was Gredenic, but not intensely so— began looking elsewhere. Some turned to Xyarat, but Yevism struck more of a chord with the populace. Yevism would even go on to be the faith professed by some monarchs of Rhen when it was founded: notably, Charles II (r. 41–46) would even become a Yevist monk. In the third century DR, Heplianism began spreading into the north of Amitrea; this began drawing followers away from Yevism, and precipitated a crisis among Yevist theologians. Although Yevism lacks an ecclesiastical hierarchy, the abbots of the largest Yevist monasteries convened the Krasbar Conference in 254 DR to seek a way to retain their adherents. This created a rift in the Yevist community: one faction, pioneered by Konrad Sauvel, wanted to relax the guidelines about fasting and self-flagellation, while another, led by Ruprecht Arteschall, recommended increasing missionary activity without "retreating" from Yevism's original principles. The schism proved intractable, and so the Krasbar Conference concluded with two separate branches of the faith: Traditional Yevism under Arteschall, and Elegant Yevism under Sauvel. Trivia *Yevism is the majority religion of no countries, although it is commonest in Rhen, where about one-third of the populace subscribes to some form of Yevism— 25% to Elegant Yevism, 8% to Traditional. *The term yev comes from yetev, a word from the ancient Szunbra tongue; also derived from yetev is Yedv, a common surname in Valat-speaking regions. Category:Religions